“The View” co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Sara Haines said people felt that former President Barack Obama did not “do enough for black people” during Thursday’s panel.
Hostin said former President Donald Trump’s popularity was a “white-lash” in response to a black president “with unassailable character,” and argued these alleged “threatened” supporters made Trump their “messiah.”
“Everyone voted for a black man with unassailable character and I think in response to that, they felt otherized — threatened — and they felt Trump was their messiah,” Hostin said.
“Well don’t blame it on Obama, blame it on Trump,” co-host Joy Behar said.
Haines then raised how many of Obama’s supporters believed he did not do enough for the black population or lean into his identity enough.
“But President Obama actually got flack during his presidency. He was not someone who fully leaned into his identity. People felt he didn’t do enough leaning into —” Haines said. (RELATED: ‘We Are Not Victims’: ‘The View’ Guest Point Fingers Confronting Co-Hosts On CRT, Victimizing Black People)
“Well he leaned into identity, people felt he didn’t do enough for black people,” Hostin interjected.
“That’s what I mean, though,” Haines said.
Hostin said Obama served as a president for “all Americans” rather than focusing on identity politics.
The co-hosts’ remarks were in response to Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who accused the Obama administration of causing the current race and gender division during her Wednesday appearance on the radio show, “The Breakfast Club.”
“With Obama, if you go back. That’s when we really started to feel the division,” Haley said. “Everything was exaggerated with the Obama administration. It became more about gender, it became more about race, it became more about separating Americans instead of bringing them together. Everybody is at fault. I’m not saying one person did this, but I’m saying under that administration, it really did cause some … You just felt — people felt like they were being put in camps through that administration.”